Friends
by ThrowDownTheKey
Summary: What happens when the bohemians go to visit their favorite professor at work? All canon couples, including mostly my favorite! Cangel, as you all know :) This one goes out to my wonderful readers, I truly love you.


Friends

**Hi! I was inspired to write this after reading Rumors by EloraCooper4, and The Day They Invaded The Classroom, by PandaFire McMango. I know that this idea has already been done, but it's too amazing to not write about. I've recently hit a small form of writer's block, and can't think of any decent ideas anymore. Though, if you read my recent fic Airports, you already know that. ****J****If you brilliant, beautiful, people have any ideas for stories about my favorite couple, please tell me in a review! I love you all! Thanks for reading my stuff. I recently hit 200 visitors to all my stories, yaahhh! Thankyou guys so much, I love you. No really, I do. You're the Collins to my Angel. ****J**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rent, or these characters. If I did, I most definitely would not share them with you lovely people! They are soul property of heaven's most talented angel, Jonathon Larson.**

**P.s. Angel is out of drag for this story, so I'm referring to her as a 'he.' But there's a high chance that I'll mix my pronouns up eventually, so just bear with me. **

Collins sighed. "Yet another perfectly good day wasted," he thought to himself, opening the door to his and Angel's apartment.

"Hey honey!" Angel squealed delightedly, practically flying off the couch. Collins grunted halfheartedly as she pulled him into an eager kiss. "Ooo," Angel frowned, "bad day at work?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

He nodded and set his briefcase down. Then he peeled his leather jacket off, and Angel took it. Hanging the coat on the rack she smiled. "I know what would cheer you up!"

Collins sighed and flung himself onto the ratty couch dramatically. He looked up in mocked despair, "What?" he asked.

Angel giggled and curled up next to him. "Maureen invited us to the Life for dinner, apparently Joanne got some promotion," she said excitedly.

Collins groaned. He was tired, and didn't even want to imagine going to the Life with his rowdy friends. All he wanted to do was curl up with Angel and sleep. But looking at her face, he could tell she wanted to get out of the house, "You go," he said. "I'm just going to sleep for a while."

Her face dimmed, almost disappointed. "It won't be as much fun without you," she pouted, using her big, puppy dog brown eyes to her own advantage.

Collins sighed, he was too weak to argue with her, and those eyes could make him do anything. She had him wrapped around her perfectly manicured finger, and she knew it. "Fine," he grunted, making her smile.

"Great!" she said excitedly, getting off the couch. "I'm going to change, don't you dare fall asleep on me!" she scurried off to her bedroom.

Collins smiled to himself. Angel was changing her clothes, which pretty much meant he had an hour to sleep. He slowly found himself sinking into the couch, falling into a peaceful, and much needed rest.

"Wow," Mimi said, sipping her soda. "He must have been really tired if he just fell asleep waiting for you."

Angel nodded, unfolding her napkin and delicately placing it over her skirt. "Yeah, he was totally spent. Those college kids suck all the life out of him," she complained.

Mark nodded sympathetically, but it was obvious his mind was somewhere else. He gazed longingly at Maureen, who was twirling Joanne's hair and whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Joanne giggled, looking deeply into Maureen's eyes, as if she was pouring her soul into her.

Roger nudged his friend with his shoulder. "Mark, snap out of it," he said.

"Aww…" Mimi sympathized, running her hand through Mark's tousled hair. "Poor Markie… don't worry Mark, one day you'll find an amazing girl who's going to love you. I promise," she comforted him, drawing Mark's gaze from Maureen.

"Hey hey hey!" Roger swatted Mimi's hand away from Mark's hair. "Let's not forget who's girlfriend you are," he added.

Mimi laughed and leaned her head on Roger's shoulder. Angel sighed and fiddled with her fork. "You okay Angel?" Mark asked the drag queen.

"Yeah… I think I'm going to head home, I miss Collins," Angel said.

"What! No, don't leave us Ang!" Maureen pulled herself off her girlfriend's lap, situating herself. "You know what I was thinking," Maureen continued, "I was thinking, that'd we'd never seen Collins in action."

Joanne slapped Maureen's cheek playfully. "No Pookey!" Maureen debated. "Not like that! I meant you've never seen him at work! I mean, I wonder what kind of a teacher he's like. I bet going to one of his classes would be interesting."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "That sounds like fun Maureen," Mark said.

"It's settled then," she nodded proudly.

Olivia laughed. She loved Professor Collins, his teaching style was amazing. He was by far, her favorite teacher. She was sitting in a wooden chair, taking attentive notes on her laptop, hanging on his every word. She actually looked forward to his weekly Monday lectures. Olivia would never admit it, but it was her favorite part of the week. The way he could make her laugh, all the while learning amazed her.

"Let's see here…" Collins looked around the room. "Olivia Grace, what are your thoughts on love?"

Olivia pushed up her lavender glasses, deep in thought. This may have been an odd question for a Computer Age Philosophy class, but that didn't stop her from answering. "I think," she said in a clear, confident voice, "that love is beautiful. True love is different thought. You can love your new floral skirt, and you can love your goldfish. But true love is a different matter. Which version of love were you referring to, Professor?" she asked.

Collins smiled. Olivia was by far one of his favorite students. She was very intelligent, yes, but the way she thought, so deeply and innocently, reminded him of someone. "Okay Miss Grace, what are your thoughts on true love?"

"I think it's wonderful. It's rare, and only comes around once or twice. And if you don't catch it and kindle it, it will slip from your fingertips. It can be hard, and it takes work, but it's worth it. It's easy to fall in love, and if it's meant to be, if it's true love, it comes naturally," she finished.

Collins beamed. "That was beautiful, Olivia. Thank you," he said, and with that he moved on with his lecture.

Then someone knocked on the door. "Come in!" Collins shouted, not even looking to see who it was. He continued talking, ignoring the seven new visitors.

Olivia observed the newcomers as they sat down next to her. The one directly beside her was an African American woman, dressed nicely in a business suit. "Maybe she's a teacher," Olivia thought. Then the woman put her arm around the curvy, dark haired girl next to her. Olivia looked further down the row, and saw a pale, young looking man holding a camera protectively. At the end of the aisle of chairs, a thin Latina was sitting in a rather, well, hot blonde man's lap with his arm around the girl.

Then the dark haired girl who was fondling the black woman whispered, rather loudly, "Where's Angel?"

Professor Collins turned around. "Let's remember that I'm not an old man, and I can hear whispering. But if you want to act like preschoolers, I will treat you like preschoolers. Everyone sit on the floor, criss cross apple sauce."

Everyone groaned, except for the seven strangers sitting next to Olivia. They just laughed and joined the rest of the class on the floor.

Professor Collins scanned the left side of the room, so he didn't see the seven new comers.

Olivia nudged the nicely dressed girl next to her, "Are you guys new?" she asked.

The girl smiled politely. "I guess you could say that, we're friends of Professor Collins."

Olivia was a little shocked. She never thought of her teachers having friends, but then she realized they were people too. As weird as it was to think, they had lives outside of the school's walls. But friends like these? Olivia wasn't sure.

Then the door creaked open. A young man walked in, wearing a red jacket and jeans. Professor Collins didn't notice the visitor. Olivia thought he was cute, with his slightly effeminate features. He slid into the seat next to her, and noticed she was staring at him. He smiled gently and said, "I like your shoes."

Olivia blushed. Was he hitting on her? Well, they were fabulous shoes, black heels with a red leather strap. "Thanks," she said.

"Yeah," the boy nodded, looking down once more at her shoes, "red and black is a good color combo for you honey."

Olivia could feel her cheeks getting pinker, _wait, _she thought. _Had he just called her honey?_

"Okay class, did anyone actually do the assignment last night?" Professor Collins called out into the room.

The eight strangers beside her, including the boy, shot their hands in the air immediately. Olivia thought that was weird, she hadn't seen them in class on Friday. Collins' eyes shot towards them, and Olivia noticed him blushing awkwardly. Professor Collins' seemed uncomfortable, and was shifting from foot to foot nervously. He stumbled through the rest of the lecture, which Olivia thought was odd, he was always so confident.

At the end of the hour the majority of the class filed out of the room in a sea of students, but not Olivia. She hung around, pretending that one of her binders had come undone. But really she just wanted to see if these people really knew her Professor.

"Are you always that awkward in front of your students?" the man with long, blonde hair asked, approaching Collins' desk.

"No, not usually. I couldn't focus," Collins smiled and pulled the pale boy with the camera into a tight hug.

"Anything to do with me?" a shout came from next to Olivia. She turned, shocked, only to find the cute Latino was still sitting in his chair.

"Angelcake," Collins said lovingly, and with that, the boy ran down to meet the Professor at his desk. Collins swooped the boy up off his feet and into a passionate kiss.

Olivia sighed. _All the good ones are gay or taken, _she thought. She had had a hunch that her favorite professor was gay, so it wasn't a total surprise.

Collins looked up suddenly, "Shit," he said, noticing Olivia.

But Olivia just laughed, tucking her dark, curly hair behind her ear. "It's fine Professor, I knew you were gay," she said.

The girl with dark hair laughed and said loudly, "How could you not?!" earning her a light slap on the arm from the African-American girl beside her.

"Maureen!" she scolded.

Olivia giggled again and grabbed her bag. She threw it over her shoulder and walked up to her Professor's desk. "Thanks, it was a great lecture," she said politely, shaking Collins' hand.

"Thank you for listening, I look forward to seeing you next week," her professor called out as she walked out the door.

"She's hot," Maureen commented.

Joanne glared at her. Angel said, "She's definitely straight, honey."

Collins put his arm around Angel and looked at his lover questionably, "And how would you know?"

Angel laughed, "She thought I was cute."

Collins smiled and kissed Angel's nose. "That's going to be a problem for her come next Monday," Collins said teasingly. Angel swatted back at him gently. "So what overcame you guys that made you feel the need to visit me at school?" Collins asked his group of friends.

"Maureen…" Roger mumbled.

"Well," Mimi said brightly, leaning on Collins' desk. "Maureen pointed out that we'd never visited you at work or heard you teach."

"Speaking of work," Joanne said, checking her flip phone, "I've got to go back. I'll see you guys later," she said, giving Maureen a kiss before heading out.

Mark sighed, "Yeah me too…" he said sadly, "Buzzline," he added.

Angel nodded sympathetically. "Oh honey," he said, patting the filmmaker on the back. Mark then left the classroom, leaving Mimi, Angel, Collins, and Roger alone in the lecture room.

"Well," Roger said gruffly, "Mimi and I have some lunch plans, so uh."

Angel smiled at the rocker, "Oh! You guys set up an actual date? I'm so proud of you Roger! You guys have fun!" And with that, the couple left.

Collins went to sit behind his desk. "Ang, I have to finish up a few things here, I might be awhile," he sighed. He really just wanted to sit around the loft and do nothing with his boyfriend, but these essays wouldn't grade themselves.

"Oh no, I'll just wait here for you," Angel said, sitting down in one of the front row seats. He put his legs up of the desk and tried to get comfortable in the wooden chair. Collins smiled, he was glad to have some company.

"Okay Angelcake, I'm done," Collins looked up from the newly graded stack of papers on his desk, only to see Angel curled up in his chair, sleeping peacefully.

He walked over to the young drummer's seat, and ran his fingers over the boy's cheeks. Collins loved the feel of Angel, soft, smooth and warm, like home. He picked Angel up, carrying him in his arms like a baby. Collins felt Angel sigh into him, curling against the older man's chest. "Shhh…" Collins whispered lovingly, not wanting the young Latino to wake up.

But the boy's eyelashes fluttered open anyway, and he smiled. "You done baby?" Angel asked Collins sleepily.

Collins blushed. He began to set Angel back down on the floor, but Angel protested.

"Carry me home?" Angel asked, flashing her sleepy, but still glowing brown eyes up at Collins.

Collins nodded, "Of course." It's not like carrying Angel was a challenge for the tall, muscular anarchist. And besides, when he was holding Angel it gave him a sense of strength. Like he could protect Angel from any harm, when he was holding him it made Collins feel like a superhero. A superhero walking into the sunset with his damsel, who was no longer in distress.


End file.
